Get out of that social skill instruction rut. This lesson series is also great for special education teachers who have social emotional learning or behavioral goals to teach. I've created an 8 lesson group that uses an alien visiting from space to help kids to think about the importance of social skills and to practice using them. As always, I'll share all the lesson ideas here and if you'd like to purchase all of the materials ready-made, you can head on over to TPT.

Each group begins with an inclusion activity that supports the skills introduced, a kid friendly definition of the skill, and a closure activity that wraps the group and checks for understanding.

In the intro lesson to the group, we not only learn about the purpose of the group and read a story introducing students to R1, our friendly space alien, but we also have a chance to practice introduction skills with our new group members.

• Purpose of the group
• Read R1's story
• Use the Alien Name Generator to find out your Alien Name
• Interview a partner and introduce them to the group

Practice verbal and nonverbal communication with a game of feelings charades. Each student draws a sentence and a feeling. Others have to guess the feeling they are showing with tone of voice, body language, and facial expressions. Once the group chooses the right emotion, take turns thinking about why someone might feel angry, friendly, or another emotion about the sentence read.

Students take turns listening and speaking about a generic topic. As the listener, they practice each of the listening skills introduced. Students give feedback to their partners about their strengths using a picture rubric and a supportive conversation.

In this 2 lesson skill, students first practice the idea of stop and think by playing reverse Simon Says. The game is played just like the childhood game except "Simon Says" means that you *don't* complete the action. 

Poor R1, as an alien he misunderstands social cues all the time. In the second lesson, students listen to a journal entry about the day R1 comes to earth. He makes a lot of mistakes! Students write down the social clues he missed and then help him to correct them.

It takes communication and perseverance to cooperate. To practice, play "all tangled up." Students stand in a circle and grab someone's hand that is not standing next to them. To win, the group must untangle their hands without letting go. The most important part of this activity is the processing. Ask a lot of questions and encourage communication. Help students to think about what worked and didn't work in their process.

This is a fun one! The group must work together to plan a party for R1's alien friends. Each student chooses a favorite for each of the 4 party planning tasks: food, activity, cake, and location. They must then negotiate and compromise with the others in the group to come to a consensus. This is a challenging lesson but the struggle is part of the learning!

In the last session, the group partners up to create a presentation for R1 about one of the skills that they learned in group. They can choose to present about all of the skills or choose one skill to cover in depth. This is a great way to check for understanding and share some laughs. 

I hope you have fun with your Out of this World Social Skills group! I think it will be a blast (rockets optional)!

Recently, I've been exploring the concepts of trauma-informed schools and social emotional learning (linked to great articles on both). The deeper I dig, the more I come back to the concept that our little kiddos at school are real people. It might seem simple, but it is so profound. They are not tiny-adults, they are not antecedents and reinforcers. They are complex with feelings and ideas and hopes and dreams. So what can we do to honor where they are? 

It can start as simple as asking them. I used to work with a teacher who kept a stack of blue and yellow cards next to the homework basket. As students turned in their homework, they would select a blue card if they were feeling down and a yellow card if they were feeling positive. They would place their cards on their desk as they did morning work. Throughout the day, the teacher would make sure that she was able to check in with all of the blue cards to see what was going on with them. She even made time to celebrate with her yellow cards. It was simple and easy to maintain but it sent a strong message to your students that she cared about what was going on with them.

This idea inspired me to create a mood clip chart. This clip chart could be used in both the counselor's office and a classroom. In the counselor's office, the counselor could use number clips to maintain confidentiality. I envision using the chart at the beginning of each group session by student's clipping their mood. In individual counseling sessions, you could assign a student a certain number so that they can move their clip each time they enter your office. In the classroom, a teacher could have students clip their number, name or picture on the chart as they walk in. The clip chart could also be used during morning meetings. 

It's a simple idea, and sometimes those are best. If you're interested, I've created the clip chart for you in my TPT store. It includes 3 different color schemes, number tags, and editable name tags for clips. Just in case you've already posted your amazing MAP It Out wall, I made sure to use a complimentary color scheme. 
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What creative ways do you check in with your students? I'd love to hear your ideas! Comment below or give me a shout out on instagram, facebook, or twitter. I'd love to hear from you :)

It gets a bad rep but recess is hard. So many skills are needed to navigate the playground successfully. What to do? Join recess club! Recess club is designed for small groups. When I've run this group in the past, I allow about 6-7 kids. I think it would be possible to teach a whole class in shifts with a teacher assistant or parent volunteer in the room while some kids are outside for club. I recommend this group for K-2 but it could be adapted for older kids.

The most important part of recess club is free time on the playground. Choose a time when other students are not outside. In my school, that meant 9:00am. We started the group in September to make sure that we could finish the group before group before the mornings were too cold. 

Every school has unique rules for using the playground equipment. In the first lesson, we start off with an active icebreaker and then talk about the appropriate use of equipment. I created skill cards to include each piece of equipment. To make them fun- we play games with the cards. I like to play go fish by printing two sets of cards. To practice, we go outside and walk around the entire playground to talk about appropriate ways to use the equipment. What are the norms for waiting for your term? Are certain pieces of equipment only allowed for older/younger kids? 

In this lesson, we use the anchor card to learn the appropriate way to ask others to play. Each kid draws a role play card and then practices. I pull one kid aside and ask the to say "no" to a student that I know won't be upset. We then practice what to do when someone says no. For playground time, we go outside for free play. Every 5 minutes, I yell "switch" and students find a new friend to invite to play.

Not as fun as playground time but a part of reality in school, indoor recess requires a whole set of skills. We play a board game to practice the skills of taking turns, waiting patiently, and game play. Any board game will work, but I created a recess game that teaches conflict resolution, procedures, and other recess skills. The best part of this lesson is that it can be done in any order so it's a great back-up plan in case it rains on a club day.

Anytime kids play, there is conflict. That's a good thing! Conflict is natural and an important skill for life. I work with kids to practice creating "Bug and a Wish" sentences. We brainstorm actual playground problems and then work together to write a bug and wish sentence. I try to leave as much time as possible to for free play on the playground so that we can work on actual conflicts that arise.

What does review look like for recess club? Play! Never underestimate how much kids learn in free play. 

Love what you see? You can easily recreate this group yourself, or you can find everything all set for you in my recess club download on TPT.  Take advantage of the 2016 Back to School Sitewide sale to save 28% August 1st and 2nd!

Growth Mindset is all the rage right now. While the original concept has sometimes been lost, the work of Carol Dweck is pretty incredible. You can see this previous post for a brief glimpse into the research behind growth mindset (and a PD you can present to your staff).

I've created a fun booklet for kids to make that explores the major concepts of growth mindset. It only takes 2 sheets of paper and makes an 8 page booklet and is appropriate for Grades 2-5. Let's take a look:​ 

Simple, easy and fun growth mindset for 2nd-5th graders! Copy and go- the kids can do the folding! You can add to the lesson by reading a book on growth mindset. Here are some of my favorite:

I've recently been introduced to the concept of the cooperative game. We are all used to the typical, competitive game. I use many of them in my counseling office - Sorry, Chutes and Ladders, and Uno are on constant rotation. So what's a cooperative game? A cooperative game is one where the players work together for a common purpose. We are big fans in our household and I've recently been thinking about how we can use some of our favorites in a school counseling setting. 

The box says ages 1-6, but it should say 1-100. This is a favorite in all generations of my family. The game can be made harder or easier depending on skill and would be a great game to play with special needs students, younger students, or as an ice breaker for older kids. What's a Woozle? The woozle is the monster and players must carry snacks to him on a spoon while dancing, spinning, hopping or some other crazy movement. 
Skills: turn taking, frustration tolerance, gross motor, cooperation

In Hoot Owl Hoot, players work together to use strategy to get all of the owlets in the nest before the sun rises. You can use fewer owls for younger kids and more owls for older kids. Some real strategy is needed in order to actually get all the owls to the nest. 
Skills: turn taking, voicing opinion, handling disagreements, leadership, decision making with a group, strategy

Great for your dinosaur experts! The goal is to get all the dinosaurs off dinosaur island before the volcano explodes. The cool part? The volcano is a 3D cardboard volcano you build as you play. Mostly a game of chance, there is some simple strategy involved that is helped by everyone helping each other. 
Skills: turn taking, memory, supporting other's play, impulse control 

What games have you used in your office? Have you ever used cooperative games? I am in love. I'm eyeing this one and  this one. This one fits right in with lesson plans you may already have.